Parson's ass hurt from sitting on the cold marble-ish material this place was made of. There was no piece of furniture for him in here. Apparently that was a thing.

Not all Thinkamancers were allowed into the Temple, it seemed. Parson was here because of special circumstances, and Maggie was only allowed in as his guide. Not everyone was a Great Mind, and even those guys had a subtle hierarchy. They worked their way up through the group's collective esteem, from yoga mats to bean bag chairs and futons, all the way up to recliners and sofas. They had no rank, just the thing they got to sit on.

So he was taking notes on the floor by the stairs, his legs dangling off the edge of the walkway.

They'd had a bit of a thinky-fight about the spy thing, before settling down and assuring him that the Temple and its occupants could be considered secure.

"None of the Great Minds would betray Thinkamancy itself for any reason," said Isaac. "Nor could they long do so without detection." Roger reluctantly agreed, and they went on to give Parson the rundown of Charlie's secret powers.

Now it was dead silent in here, even in his brain. They'd dumped a lot on him, and they were giving him some quiet time to process and organize it before continuing. One thing these people did understand was how the mind worked. He wished he'd had a few teachers and processors who'd known when to shut up for five minutes.

He now had several pages of scribbles about the things Charlie could do. Some of the big ones included:

The ability to cast and even link up at a distance. Archons worked as relays. Charlie frequently created new spells by hiring casters from the Magic Kingdom and linking with them.

Thinkamancy was one big club, and they all made their living offering their services to rulers as ironclad lines of military communication. If word got out that everyone's comms were compromised, most sides would stop hiring and relying on Thinkamancers. It would be hard times for them (but a boon to the Hat Magicians).

"So, has nobody ever thought to ask about that?" Parson had questioned. "What would you do if asked, would you lie about it? Or...what about Duty? Or a magical contract to speak the truth? Or a pinkie swear? What do you do to keep that secret?"

There'd been an uncomfortable pause, and more switchboard talking.

"Yes, the Thinkamancer would lie to his Ruler," sent Isaac. "There are means of assuring that this information is not shared, which is why we are not woried about a spy among the Great Minds."

"Oh," sent Parson.

That seemed to be all they wanted to say about that, but then Isaac added, "We'd like you to submit yourself to those, before you leave the Magic Kingdom."